In the months following Bruce Dickinson’s cancer all-clear, Iron Maiden have stipulated that touring would be the final part of the band’s Book of Souls campaign, until now. The metal band have announced the first run of dates for their 2016 world tour, which will begin in the US in February.

While only nine dates have been confirmed so far, the band have revealed that the Book of Souls world tour will arrive in Mexico, El Salvador and Costa Rica in March before Ed Force One – Dickinson’s Boeing 747-400 Jumbo Jet – flies into South America for concerts in Argentina, Chile and Brazil, before a trip back to the US at the end of March and then Canada.

In April, the band will perform in Japan, and then proceed on to their first shows in China, ahead of their New Zealand, Australian and South African dates. The tour will culminate in a series of European shows in the summer. “This will the first time Ed Force One has ever been used on any European Tour dates (other than Bruce’s Fan Club trips to shows) and will provide transport there for at least for the first few weeks,” a statement on their website reads.

Bruce Dickinson: ‘Hell would freeze over before I'd stop performing’

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The Book of Souls, Iron Maiden’s double album, is currently at No 1 in the UK album charts. It follows their frontman’s battle against tongue cancer, details of which he discussed in a recent interview with the Guardian.

“Hell would have to freeze over before you couldn’t get me on that stage,” Dickinson explained. “Even if somebody else had to sing and all I could do is run around and wave my fucking arms. But I don’t think that’s going to be the case. I was having a good sing-song yesterday and thinking, ‘Ooh, that’s sounding pretty good, actually.’”

The rock frontman began mixing the new Iron Maiden album in Paris with the band in December 2014 when he became aware of a lump in the side of his neck. Doctors confirmed that the cancer had been caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV). Studies suggest HPV can be sexually transmitted – as actor Michael Douglas addressed during a Guardian interview in 2013, in which he blamed his cancer on cunnilingus.

“I mean, everybody goes, oh, Michael Douglas … ha ha ha, he’s been going down on the missus,” Dickinson explains, “but the truth is nobody knows for certain what causes it. I had a wobble right at the beginning, I thought: why me? Should I feel sorry for myself? And then I thought, let’s not go down the blame game: ‘Oh God, it’s the universe’s revenge for having been a naughty boy,’ or it’s this, or it’s that… No it’s not. It’s random. Shit just happens. So you deal with it. You just crack on.”